Friday, August 8, 2014

Haunted Mansion Week, Day 6

For the second-to-last day of Haunted Mansion Week, I thought we'd take a look at the Music. It's a known fact among Mansionites that (almost) every piece of music heard through out the ride is a variation on the ride's theme song, Grim Grinning Ghosts. It is heard as a funeral dirge in the foyer, a waltz, a creepy piano tune, and jazzy jamboree in the graveyard (Fun Fact: the organ seen in the ballroom is in fact the organ from Captain Nemo's office in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). In fact, the only scene that doesn't use the Grim Grinning Ghosts theme is the Attic, which instead had a version of "Here Comes the Bride" as it's soundtrack. And of course, who could forget the iconic narration by Disney veteran Paul Frees?
When the Mansion was brought to Paris as Phantom Manor, the score was rework into a lush, Gothic orchestral score that would be right at home in a film adaptation of Phantom of the Opera. Paul Frees was replaced as Ghost Host by the famous horror actor Vincent Price, who did his own narration exceptionally well.
The Mansion has also inspired a few sound effects records that have become desirable among collectors of vintage horror records:
The influence of the Haunted Mansion and it's soundtrack should not be underestimated. Truly the first real "Halloween music", and can be heard as the soundtrack to countless haunts every year. And besides, what Halloween fan (including yours truly) hasn't wanted to waltz among the ghosts in the ballroom and lose himself in that delicious organ music?

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